Definitions

  • Color: Effect produced on the eye and its associated nerves by light waves of different wavelength or frequency. Light transmitted from an object to the eye stimulates the different color cones of the retina, thus making possible perception of various colors in the object


  • Color Wheel: Is a color wheel arranges colors around the edges of a circle. shows the primary colors, secondary colors, and the tertiary colors. It also shows the relationships between complementary colors across from each other on the color wheel, such as blue and orange; and analogous (similar or related) colors next to each other on the color wheel such as yellow, green and blue. Black and white may be thought of as colors but, in fact, they are not. White light is the presence of all color - black is the absence of reflected light and therefore the absence of color.


  • Kinds of Color Wheel: Color wheels are helpful in the discussion and selection of colors using any color model. A standard color wheel has 12 distinct hues, but does not have any visual information about saturation or value. These 12 hues can be classified in three categories, primary, secondary, and tertiary.
    • Primary colors are the defining colors of the wheel. In the color wheels below, they appear in the center as well as equally spaced around the circle. On the traditional artist's color wheel red, blue, and yellow are primary colors.
    • Secondary colors are the three colors that are equal distant from the primary colors. On the traditional artist's color wheel violet, green, and orange are secondary colors.
    • Tertiary colors are the colors between each primary and secondary color. On the traditional artist's color wheel red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, and red-orange are tertiary colors.

  • Value: Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. Colors mixed with white are called tints. Pink is a tint of red. Colors mixed with black are called shades. Burgundy is a shade of red. Paintings that use only one color and the tints and shades of that color are called monochromatic (one=mono; color=chromatic)

  • Value, Tints and shides: Tints are light values that are made by mixing a color with white. For example, pink is a tint of red, and light blue is a tint of blue.
  • Analogous Colors: Analogous (uh-NAL-uh-gus) colors sit next to each other on the color wheel. They tend to look pleasant together because they are closely related.
  • Mood: Colors are often associated with moods. For example, we say "green with envy," "a blue mood." Certain colors also look cool, such as blue, green and violet; and others look warm, like red, orange and yellow.
  • Natural Color: Artists use colors to create a variety of desired effects. When an artist paints a scene or objects realistically, colors are used in imitation of the things being painted.
  • Color Effects: When small dots of pure color are applied close together, the viewer's eyes mix the colors. Notice that each dot of pure color the artist has used looks bright, but when your eye mixes them they are subdued, almost neutral.
    When small dots of pure hue are applied close together, the viewer's eyes mix these hues. Notice the brightness of the pure hues the artist has used.
    Some artists use color in an arbitrary way. Instead of imitating the natural colors of objects, they used colors for symbolic or expressive purposes. In this painting the artist selected colors that symbolized universal principles such as spiritual harmony with nature, not the colors he really saw.
  • Black and White: The answer to the question - "Are black and white colors?" - is one of the most debated issues about color. Ask a scientist and you'll get a reply based on physics: “Black is not a color, white is a color.” Ask an artist or a child with crayons and you'll get another: “Black is a color, white is not a color.”
    The colors we see are simply a degree of how much of this color present in light is reflected. To be completely accurate, a color reflects the wavelengths in the NM range that our retinal cones respond to.
    The medium is the process of reflection of the wavelength of the color.
    The receiver is our eyes which receive the wavelength of the color.